Trimmer for boat-loading apparatus



"Jan. 9, 1923. 1,441,659;

A. F. CASE.

TRIMMER FOR BOAT LOADING APPARATUS.

FILED FEB. 16. I921. 3SHEETS-SHEET Jan. 9, 1923;

- A. F. CASE.

TRIMMER FOR BOAT LOADING APPARATUS.

B'SHEETS-SHEET 2.

FILED FEB. 15.1921.

Jan. 9,1923. 1,441,659,

A. F. CASE. TRIMMER FOR BOAT LU ADING APPARATUS- FILED FEB- 16. I921 3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

26" Q w z 26 Patented den. ii, i923.

Antennas. case, or onnvnnann, orrro, assrsnois re rnn WELLMAN-SEAVER- MORGAN ooiuranv, or CLEVELAND, QHIO, a ooaronarion or cure.

TBIHIMEB FOE BGAT-LOADING APPARATUS.

Application filed February 16, 1921. Serial No. l -15,494.

To all whom it may concern.

Be it known that T, ARTHUR F. Case, a citizen of the United States, residing at Cleveland. in the county of Cuyahoga and Stateof Ohio have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Trimmers for Boat-Loading Apparatus, of which the following is a full. clear, and exact description. i 1

his invention relates to trimmers for boat loading apparatus, and has for its object to provide an improved form of trimmer having the features of efiiciency durahility and simplicity of construction.

.Further the invention aims to provide a trimmer which is adapted to be attached to the lower end of a delivery chute and composed of a horizontally rotatable elbow and a vertically swinging delivery conveyor, with the parts so constructed and controlled. that coal or other material being loaded can be evenly distributed about the boat hatch.

The invention may be briefly summarized as consisting in certain novel details of construction, and combinations and arrangements of parts which will be described in the specification and set forth in the appended claims. 1

in the accompanying sheets of drawings wherein I have shown an embodiment of the invention which operates with high efiiciency Fig. 1 is a side view 0t. my improved trimmer; Fig. 2 is a detail sectional view illustrating the manner of rotatably si'ipportine the trin'uner from a casting at the bottom oi? the delivery chute; Fig. 3 is a view of the trimmer looking; toward the left end oi Fig. 1; Fig. l; is a sectional view substantially along the line a d of Fig. 1 looking in the direction indicated. by the arrows; and Fig. 5 is a section substantially along the line of Fig. 1. looking in the direction indicated by the arrows.

My improved trimmer adapted to be secured to the lower casting 10 of a telescopic delivery chute 11., the extreme lower end. of which is shownin Fig. 1. This delivery chute. which is adapted to be eX tended or collapsed and to be inserted into the hatch or? a boat may be carried by any suitable apparatus such as a car dumper or tower, and material may be delivered to the upper ,end of the chute in any suitable man her. I

Rot-stably supported by the casting l0, and adapted to turn or rotate about the axis of the upright chute 1]. is a second casting- 12. In this instance the lower part of the casting 10 has a laterally extending flange 10, to the lower face of which the upper" flanged portion 12 of the lower cast ing; is held bya slip ring 13. and vertical bolts 14. passing through the ring and through the flange 12 Likewise clamped between the ring 18 and the flange 12 outwardly of the flange 10 01": the upper casting is a gear 15 which is utilized in rotating the trimmer, this gear by the clamping means shown being rotated with the casting l2'as well as with the other parts of the trimmer supported by the latter.

The trimmer is rotated about the axis ot the delivery chute 11 by a motor 16 which is supported on the top casting 10. This motor through worm gearing indicated at 1?, drives a pinion 18 which meshes with the relatively large gear 15. The motor 16 is reversible and-therefore may rotate the trimmer in either direction so as to distribute the coal in all directions.

Secured to the lower part of the casting 12 is a delivery elbow 19 adapted todivert the coal laterally. This elbow has parallel sides, an open front facing in al'direction at right angles to the axis of the delivery chute 11, and a curved or rounded bottom and backwall. As the coal passing downwardly through. the chute 11 and through the upper castings 10' and 12 strikes the curved bottom of this elbow it is diverted laterally at substantially right angles to its direction of travel down the chute.

lln connection with this elbow I provide an adjustable delivery member which is pro vided with. a delivery belt, and is adapted to teed. or impel the coal laterally at various elevations. and is also adapted to be swung to a position such that the coal will be delivered by the elbow 19 independently of the belt so as to allow the coal to be deposited at a point more or less near the elbow.

The delivery member is adapted to swing about the axis of a horizontal hinge pin 20, and it is supported from this hinge pin by two parallel aans21 composed of plates stiii'ened by angles, which arms are adapted to be swung alongside the parallel sides of the elbow 19. This delivery member includes a pair of guide walls 22, which extend forwardly from the arms 21, so as to act like a trough in guiding the coal passing outwardly from the mouth of the elbow, and

the bottom of these guide walls is a delivery belt 23 carried by apair of drums Qiand 25, rotat-ably supported by relatively adjust able bearings 26 and 27 which are mounted on the lower sup-porting part 28 of the delivery member. The distance between these drums can be varied by adjustable spacers 29 to vary the tension of the belt or take up slack therein.

In Fig. 1 the delivery member is in its forwardmost position, in which position the rear part of the belt is just behind the lower discharge edge of the elbow, and since the axis of movement of the delivery member coincides substantially with the axis of curvature of the curved bottom and rear wall of the elbow, as the deliverymember is swung back, the top leg of the beltwill swing back ofithe curved wall of the elbow,-and when the delivery member has been swung back to its rearmost position, the drums assume the dotted line position indicated at 24* and at which time the coal as it is discharged by gravity from the elbow passes clear of the belt and is neither impelled nor deflected thereby.

The belt is driven by a motor 30 which is supported atthe lower rear part of the delivery member beneath thecurvedbottom and rear wall of the elbow, and behind the discharge face thereof. This motor is connected by a chain indicated at 31 to the shaft supporting the rear conveyor drum 24L, the chain being enclosed in a guard 32.

It will be observed by reference to Figs. 4 and'5 that the top leg of the belt is quite close to the bottom of the two guide walls 22 which extend above the belt, the width of the belt being somewhat greater than the distance between the lower parallel portions of these guide walls. Notwithstanding this, there exists the possibility that part of the coal traveling forwardly with the belt may pass underneath the guide plates or walls 22 and drop from the sides of the belt. There is, a possibility also, that part of this coal might, unless means were provided to prevent it, drop onto thelower rearwardly traveling leg of the belt. This would be very objectionable as itywould have a tendency to injure the belt and decrease the efficiency of the belt in delivering the coal, and to :avoid it I- provide between the upper and lower-legs. of the belt a V-shaped deflector 83 ('seefFigs. 1 and 5) composed of two" relatively adjustable or telescopic V- shaped plates the edge or apex ofthe V be- I ing centrallybfthe side-edgesof the belt,

some distance below the top leg thereof, and inclined downwardly and laterally beyond the edges of the lower leg of the belt so that any coal dropping off the sides of the belt and tending to lodge on the lower leg of the belt will be deflected outwardly and drop from the delivery member, the sides of which opposite the belt are open. This deflee-tor and belt protector extends out and down to the sides of the lower part 28 of the delivery member and is bolted thereto. It is composed of two telescopic V-shaped plates to allow for the adjustment of the space between the drums which carry the belt.

The fact that the guide walls 22 extend down substantially to, but not past the top leg of the belt as shown in Figs. l and 5, and that the delivery member is open opposite the belt has important advan tages. By terminating the guide walls 22 just above the belt there is far less liability of coal being wedged between the edges of the belt and the guide walls than would be the case if the guide walls extended downward and beyond the top leg. of the belt, and in consequence with the present construction there is far less liability of the edges of the belt being cut and worn than would otherwise be the case. Furthermore, by terminating the guide walls just above the belt and by leaving the sides of the delivery member open, the belt can be removed when desired, without removing the drums. To remove the belt it is simply necessary to slacken up slightly on the bearings for the drums, remove the hearings on one side and slip the belt outwardly. This admits of a much more convenient replacement of the belt than would be possible with a delivery member closed opposite the belt.

According to another important feature of the invention, the motor 30 which drives the delivery belt is utilized to swing the delivery member about its horizontal axis of movement. To this end the shaft of motor 30 is connected by a. flexible coupling indicated at 34 in Fig. 3 to a shaft 35 which extends laterally from the delivery member on the side opposite to that having the sprockets and driving chain 31. The projecting end of this shaft is provided with a pair of bevel gears 36, either of which is adapted to be clutched to the shaft by a shiftable clutch element 37 which is controlled by a lever 38, and normally held. by a latch 39 in neutral position. These bevel gears 36 are adapted to rotate a bevel pinion 4.0 at the bottom of an upwardly extending shaft 41 which is connected by worm gearing indicated at42 to a shaft 43 extending horizontally across the back of the elbow. This shaft-carries pinions 44.- which engage a pair of curved racks 45 secured tothe rear 'tral position.

a iness curved part of the elbow l9, and preferably to curved angles to secured to the parallel sides of the elbow adjacent the rear and bottom curved wall.

It will be seen, therefore, that when the shaft 43 is rotated, the pinions a l will travel up or down the racks 45, depending upon the direction in which the shaft 43 is rotated, and when this is done the delivery member as a whole is swung about its horizontal axis of movement so as to vary the angle of discharge of the belt, or to swing the latter entirely out of reach of the coal passing from the elbow. To shift the delivery member in the manner above stated, the motor 30 will be temporarily stopped until the movable clutch member has been shifted into engagement with the proper bevel gear 86, and then the motor will be again started, and when the delivery member has been swung to the proper position, the clutchmember 37 is thrown out and the lever 38 returned to neutral. position. The delivery member will be held in that position, due to the fact that the worm gearing- 4 2 is self-locking gearing.

In connection with the mechanism explained above, I have made provision for automatically throwing out the clutch when the delivery member has been swung by the motor to its upper and rearinost position, and when it has been swung to its downward and forwardmost position. This is attained by providing on the curved back of the elbow two limit lugs 47 and 41:8 (see Fig. 3), and by providing a device suitably connected to the lever 38 and positioned so as to be engaged by the lugs at and 48 so as to shift t-he lever to neutral position and thus throw out the clutch when the delivery member reaches the limits of its movement. In this instance the device which is adapted to be engaged by the lugs 4.? and 4:8 .is a bell-crank 49, pivotally supported at 50 on the delivery member, and connected by a linlc 51 to the lever 38.

When it is desired to shift the delivery member to inactive position the lever 38 is moved to the right as viewed in Fig. 3, causing the clutch member 3'? to be shifted into engagement with the right hand bevel gear 36. Thisswings the arm 49 of the bellcranlr to a position such that when the end of the arm engages the lug a? it is cammed outward and the resulting movement of the bell-crank and link 51 shifts the lever back to neutral position, thus instantly stopping further movement of the delivery member when it is swung to its upper and real-most position. When it is desired to swing the delivery member from inactive position to the position shown in Fig. 1, the hand lever is shifted in thareverse direction from neu- This swings the bell-crank arm 49 to a position such that when the the material beingdischarged by the belt delivery meniiber has reached its forwardmost position the arm 41-9 of the bell-c 'auk is cammed inward, and this restores the lever to neutral position and disengages the clutch.

Of course the clutch can be thrown out by hand when the delivery member reaches any desired position within the range ot-its swinging movement, but the mechanism just described, which provides for automatically throwing out the clutch when the dc livery member is in either of its extreme positions constitutes a safety feature which eliminates liability of danger to the apparatus due to inattention or lack of skill on the part of the operator.

Having described my invention, 1 claim:

1. In a boat loading apparatus, a trimmer comprising a rotatably supported member having, a delivery conveyor for delivering material laterally of the trimmer, said conveyor comprising a belt and a pair of drums about which the belt passes, the upper leg oi the belt being unsupported between the drums, and means for preventing the deposit oi: any material on the lower leg of the belt for substantially the entire length thereof.

2. In a boat loading apparatus, a trimmer comprising a rotatably supported member with. a delivery part including a pair of guide walls, a delivery belt between the same and a pair of drums about which the belt passes, in combination witha deflector supported between the upper andlower legs of the belt for si'ibstantially the full distance between the drums for preventing any of dropping onto the lower leg thereof.

3. A trimmer for a boat loading apparatus comprising a rotatable elbow and a swinging delivery member supported thereby, including e uide walls, a delivery belt extending between the same for discharging material in a. lateral direction and at various elevations and a pair of drums about which the belt passes, in'combination with a diverting shield arranged between the upper and lower legs of the belt and extending; for substantially the full distance between the drums for preventing material dropping from the upperleg onto the lower leg of the belt.

4:. A trimmer for boat loading apparatus comprising a rotatable elbow, a delivery member hinged thereto so as to swing vcrti iii) axis Of the chute, a delivery member hinged to said elbow and provided with a conveyor, :1 motor supported by the delivery member and connected to the conveyor to operate the same, and mechanism for connecting the motor to the elbow for swinging the delivery member relative thereto, said mechanism comprising a rack and pinion, one adapted to move relative to the other, and one carried by the elbow and the other by the delivery member, and means for actuating one of said members by the motor.

6. A trimmer for distributing material in the hatch of a boat comprising arotatable elbow provided with a curved bottom and rear wall, a curved rack carried by the elbow, a delivery member hinged to swing vertically relative to the elbow and carrying a pinion adapted to travel up and down said curved rack, and means for rotating the pinion to swing the delivery member relative to the elbow.

'7. In a trimmer adapted to be attached to the lower end of a delivery chute for distributing material in the hatch of a boat and comprising an elbow adapted to be retated. about the axis of the chute, and provided with a curved bottom and rear wall, a curved rack carried by the elbow, a delivery member hinged to swing vertically relative to the elbow and carrying a pinion adapted to travel up and down said curved rack, and motor driven mechanism for retating the pinion.

8. In a trimmer adapted to be attached to the lower end of a delivery chute for distributing material in the hatch of a boat and comprising an elbow adapted to be rotated about the axis of the chute, and provided with a curved bottom and rear wall, a curved rack carried by the elbow, a delivery member hinged to swing vertically relative to the elbow, mechanism carried by the delivery member for swinging the delivery member relative to the elbow, and comprising a shaft at the rear of the curved wall of the elbow, a pinion on the shaft engagingsaid rack, and means for rotating said shaft comprising self-locking gearing.

9. In a trimmer adapted to be attached to the lower end of a "delivery chute for distributing material in the batch of a boat and comprising an elbow adapted to be rotated about the axis of the chute, and provided with a curved bottom and rear wall, a curved rack carried by the elbow, a delivery member hinged to swing vertically relative to the elbow, mechanism carried by the delivery member for swinging the delivery member relative to the elbow and comprising a shaft at the rear of the curved wall of the elbow, a pinion on the shaft engaging said rack, a motor, and means connecting the motor to said shaft.

1,4&1,659

10. In a trimmer adapted to be attached to the lower end of a delivery chute for distributing material in the hatch of a boat and comprising an elbow adapted to be rotated about the axis of the chute, and provided with a curved bottom and rear wall, a curved rack carried by the elbow, adelivery member hinged to swing vertically relative to the elbow, mechanism carried by the delivery member for swinging the delivery member relative to the elbow, and comprising a shaft at the rear of the curved wall of the elbow, a pinion on the shaft engaging said rack, a motor, and means connecting the motor to said shaft, said delivery member having a conveyor, and, a driving connection between said motor and the conveyor to operate the same.

11. In a. trimmer for a boat loading apparatus, an elbow adapted to be supported at the lower end of a member for delivering material to the trimmer, a swinging delivery member rotatably supported with reference to the elbow, motor driven mechanism for swinging the delivery member, and means for automatically stopping the swinging movement when the delivery member reaches a certain position.

12. In a trimmer, an elbow, a delivery member pivot-ally supported relative thereto so that it may be swung vertically to vary the angle of discharge, motor driven mechanism for swinging the delivery member, and means for automatically stopping the swinging movement when the deliv ry member is swung to either extreme position.

1.3. A trimmer comprising a member adapted to be supported at the lower end of a delivery chute, a delivery member pivoted thereto, mechanism for swinging the delivery member relative to the firstnamed member and comprising a mot r, wer transmitting mechanism having a clutch. and means for automatically throwing out the clutch when the delivery inember is swung to a certain position.

1 1-. A trimmer comprising a member adapted to be supported at the lower end of a delivery chute, a delivery member pivoted thereto, mechanism for swinging the delivery member relative to the first-named memher and comprising a motor, power transmit ting mechanism having a clutch, and means for automatically throwing out the clutch when the delivery member is swungto a given position in either direction.

15. A trimmer fer a boat loading apparatus comprising an elbow, a delivery member pivotally mounted relative thereto to be swung vertically, said delivery member comprising guide walls and carrying a conveyor including a pair of drums, and a delivery belt extending about the drums and having its top leg extending betweenthe guide Walls the delivery member opposite the belt being open for the removal of the belt from the drums in a lateral direction.

16. A. trimmer for a boat loading apparatus comprising rotatable elbow, a delivery member pivotally supported relative thereto and adapted to be swung vertically to vary the angle of discharge said delivery member comprising a pair of guide walls and carrying a conveyor including a pair of drums and a delivery belt passing about the drums and having its top leg extending across the space between the guide walls, the lower edges of the guide walls being close to but above the top leg of the belt and the belt being removable laterally from the drums beneath the guide walls.

17. A trimmer for a boat loading apparatus comprising a rotary elbow and a delivery member pivoted to swing vertically relative thereto so as to vary the angle of discharge, said delivery member comprising a lower structure, a pair of upper guide walls for guiding the material being delivered, and a belt rotatably supported on said lower structure below the guide walls and havingits upper leg extending between the guide walls below but close to the same, the delivery member opposite the belt between the guide walls and said lower structure being open whereby the belt may be removed from the delivery member laterally thereof.

In testimony whereof, I hereunto affix my signature.

ARTHUR l5; CASE. 

